The Promise
by DiscoUnicorn
Summary: ONE SHOT Ukitake, Shunsui, and an OC. [Ukitake&OC]


It didn't bother her much that the world seemed obscenely different after becoming a death god. Her world before school had been boring with no chances of becoming more interesting. Then again, she had had her best friend Ukitake Jushiro, whose family lived beside hers', there to keep her company. She was a year younger than him, but just as fast as him (her father bragged about this to anyone who asked about his then only child). They were well off people that held honor in high esteem. Her father even punished her during her youth when she would wander off with Jushiro and return during the darkness of the night. Omimuraji Emishi found her life simple and bearable when compared to her best friend's. Her brother wasn't born until she'd entered the academy, and she didn't have to fear dying from a disease.

Jushiro was young when he first collapsed on her back porch in a fit of coughs. She'd stared at him blankly with a cup of tea in hand, thinking he was trying to take her for a fool. After all, he had never been sick before then, not even a sneeze. So, it took him pulling on the hem of her kimono for her to realize the extent of his sickness. Her parents had forbade her from seeing him after they found out he had tuberculosis. Emishi always found it hard to obey her parents. Not hard, but illogical. Why would she abandon her best friend in his time of need? No, she slipped over to his house at night and sat beside his bed with wide eyes. Sometimes, she talked to him, but most of the time she would read him haikus by monks living in the human world. He liked their wisdom and ways of justice.

Emishi had grown used to her mother attempting to take her out to parties so she could be well known among the spirit world, but all the girl wanted was to be loved. She did not find love in her mother's taking her places with her just so she could introduce her daughter to well off men whom she could "someday marry and enjoy his wealth." Emishi also did not find love in her father constantly telling her not to speak in public or not to trip as she walked. He criticized her on almost every thing she did. He never once complimented her. She did not miss him when he died during a battle with hollows while she was in the academy. How could she miss someone she'd built a wall around her heart to protect it from?

She sat in Jushiro's room with her book in hand flipping through the pages carelessly. Jushiro lay on his side staring at a scroll with a large dragon and a dragon slayer painted on it. Emishi had given him the scroll on his birthday years earlier. Her eyes strayed from the page so that they were locked onto his pale, young face. He looked at her in surprise when he caught her staring. Her eyebrows came together as she fingered a lock of his long black hair.

"There are strings of white in here." She said the words as if she was mystified.

Jushiro lifted a handful of his hair and sighed. "The sickness, I suppose."

Emishi put the book on the table beside her and crawled into the bed so that she lay next to him. Her fingers tangled in his hair. "Do you think you will be okay?" She did not dare look into his eyes for fear that she would become emotional. There were rumors that people died from this disease. There were also rumors that the human world would collapse. Wasn't she the one who traveled with her aunt a year before in the human world to Jerusalem just so they could see the baby? It had been a simple baby, but she knew if God had sent him then he would be a magnificent being. Her fingers tangled in Jushiro's hair as her other hand awkwardly folded over her flat stomach.

His dark eyes stared into hers. Should he lie to her? "Of course I will."

"Even if you don't, I'll be there to help you if need be. I will walk you into the light."

"I'd rather you stay behind and enjoy life."

"What are you talking about?" She looked at him with a shocked expression on his face. Her fist collided with his head. "Don't go talking about death and all, you idiot. Why do you want to do that?"

"W-what were you talking about?" He asked stupidly.

"I was talking about when we go to school in the summer. Your father signed us up. We're on our way to becoming death gods."

"If I can manage to get strong enough to pass the exams," he said softly.

Her hand clumsily fell onto the bed so that her fingers could link with his moist palm. She threaded their fingers together. "I will carry you. When we get there, if you do not get in, I will not go."

"You make silly promises. I don't even know if I will liv--"

"You won't die anytime soon. I bet you live long after me. Promise me you will."

Jushiro pressed his lips together. In all honesty, he'd rather die before she did so he didn't have to think about how much he missed her so often. Her index and middle finger slid over his brow to wipe away a trail of sweat. He blinked. "I promise."

Jushiro gazed at his best friend Shunsui Kyoraku sitting beside him. His office was large because he mostly slept in it with his third officers when the workload was too big to finish in one night. They tipped their sake cups against one another before drinking. Kyoraku knew Jushiro wanted to say something, but he never asked him what it was. After more than half a millenium of dancing around the subject, he figured it pointless. When Jushiro wanted to talk, he would talk. Kyoraku nodded as he poured himself more sake. He rolled his eyes when Jushiro shook his head as a signal that he was done. He always wondered why the man didn't drink more than two cups.

"Why do you only drink two whenever we drink? Whenever you drink sake?" Kyoraku asked casually. His friend looked deep in thought. "Jushiro-chan?"

The white haired man sighed before answering his friend. "One for me and one for Emishi." He smiled widely as he said. "Remember, before she left I never drank sake."

Kyoraku nodded as Jushiro patted him on the shoulder and laughed. No wonder the man fought so hard to stay alive. When they had been in school together, it was hard enough for him to squeeze between the two and become the third wheel. He never made passes at Emishi because he knew there was a silent relationship there between her and Jushiro. It was him, on the other hand, that she kissed the night she left. Kyoraku smiled to himself. Even he couldn't move on, and he hadn't even had the pleasure of smelling her hair.

"One time, Emishi's younger brother asked why I was still alive." Jushiro's voice was low. Kyoraku gulped down another cup of sake. He now regretted digging up such demons. Jushiro continued however, "it was a simple answer. I promised her I would."

"The water is moved by the wind. Ripples sometimes, but the effect can still be seen." Kyoraku sat down his cup after speaking the words. What the hell was he talking about? He laughed loudly and drank his sake. "Let's not dwell on such depressing things. Let's talk about Matsumato's kimono falling off during hakuda class."

Jushiro smiled, but deep inside he didn't want to talk about Matsumato. He did, however, silently thank his friend for listening to his rambles and putting them in mind someplace for later examination. No one could ruin a dark mood like Kyoraku.

Kyoraku sighed when Jushiro changed the subject from Matsumato's kimono to the movie they'd seen in the human world days before. Good, he could still detour his friend after so many years. Wasn't a kiss worth the happiness of his best friends? He slid the sake and cup onto the table and lay down on his side with his palm under his chin. He'd promised Emishi that he would help Jushiro keep living, but only if she gave him a kiss. She did it without thinking and disappeared. The captain of the third division walked out on her job and best friends. Kyoraku thought they were doing pretty damn good. After all, wasn't a promise one reason to keep living after so many years?


End file.
